ABOUT

Avid outdoorsman and underwater photographer, Barry Brown has spent the last 12 years documenting life above and below water in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. He is currently working with the Smithsonian Institution documenting new Caribbean deep-water species and building a one of a kind database. His underwater images can regularly be seen in Sport Diver, Scuba Diver and on the Ikelite website. His image of a "Collage of Corals" seen under blue-light at night recently placed in the TOP 10 images for the 2014 NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) photo contest.

Archive for January, 2011

Good evening readers, that was one of the faster Mondays that I can recall! I spent much of the morning working on re-building an old camera housing and removing years of corrosion caused by salt. For a liquid that I spend so much time in I hate what it does to all my equipment! After any given dive I have to spend a whole lot of time rinsing my dive gear and the camera, if I were to leave it un-rinsed for just one dive it would start corroding over night and do serious damage! I did one dive today at 1:00pm, the water was calm but the visibility wasn’t that great making it very hard to get nice sharp, clean photos. My coral face is now more than half way back from it’s attack of coral bleaching, it progressed a long ways over the weekend.

How many of you have ever seen a colorful spot of oil or gasoline in a parking lot as you walk into or out of a store? Well this is a larger version of the same thing except this is solid crude oil floating on top of the ocean. I found takers full of this colorful floating mess inside the harbor on the way past our oil refinery called Isla. It’s funny how something so beautiful can be so terrible yet without it our lives would be so very different. These refineries need to invest in a plane load of Palmolive and spray it onto the water, in large quantities it would work!

Jan 31, 11 Comments Off on Ride for the Roses Curacao, Hawksbill Turtle

Well, it’s Monday again! I wish I could say that was a long weekend but would be so untrue! Yesterday I left the house at 6:30am on the mountain bike and returned 2 hours later soaked to the bone! I was asked a week ago to set up and check the course for this years annual “Ride for the Roses” mountain bike course and like a good volunteer did what was needed. The Ride for the Roses www.ridefortheroses.net is a big fundraising event for cancer that happens here every year. The events you can enter are, walking, long bike ride, short bike ride, extreme mountain biking and swimming, all for fun it’s not a real race. So back to me getting up early. It had rained during the night and everything was nice and muddy. The race started at 8:00 so me and a friend took off to make sure our part of the event was good to go. We pretty much just made sure ribbons and arrow boards were in place at all the corners so no one would really be getting lost. At around 7:30 while on the Calabash trail a storm came in and it just started pouring, I yelled to my buddy, “save yourself” there is a cave a few meters back you can hide in, I will continue on and do the rest of the course! So on I went, my head down as the rain was making it difficult to see and within seconds me and the bike were covered in mud! Moments after finishing the course the rain stopped and my phone rang, the race or ride had started and I finished just in time. The course is very difficult and even says so online stating that this years trail is difficult even for experienced mountain bikers, so enter at your own risk. I honestly felt bad for anyone being on that trail today, what a mess! Besides the mud and mosquitoes, everything is overgrown and the thorn bushes continually cut your arms and legs, the rocks are very slippery and you have to a bunch of walking along the coast where the rain has flooded the trail, I am sure there were some unhappy riders yesterday. Once I got home I had to clean everything twice! After eating breakfast we then took Aimee to the start of the “Swim for the Roses” were she entered and got ready for her swim down the coast in the open ocean. Her event started at Zanzibar and ended on Mambo Beach, that’s past the Sea Aquarium. The swim was around a mile and a half, something I for sure would not want to do but Aimee is made for this event. She looked great at the start joined by hundreds of others, she had her one pieces Speedo suit, big black numbers written on the sides of her arms , hat and goggles and pretty much just looked like a professional triathlette! Bernard, Rosa and I watched from shore as the countdown began and off they went, we instantly lost her in the swarm of waving arms and kicking feet but boy oh boy was it ever cool to watch! The group instantly headed out to sea and followed the edge of the coast protected by dozens of boats and the Coast Guard. She ended up with a time of around 45 minutes, she did great, we are all so proud of her!! So very busy morning and afternoon! Bernard and I then went exploring for awhile while the girls rested and then at 6:00 went to the movies followed my dinner at the Ribs Factory, game over!

Here is a cute little Hawksbill turtle I ran into the other day and just stopped and watched as he or she ever so gently lifted from the reef and swam to the surface for a breath of air. Most of you now know these turtles are on the decline, their numbers get less and less every year! If you type in Hawksbill Turtle into the Search box on the www.coralreefphotos.com site you can learn a little more!

I got up at 5:00am this morning in order to get to work on time and I am still running late, more tonight! Good luck with your Monday, bye now, Barry

Good evening friends, that day sure went by fast! Bernard and I took the dogs for a nice morning walk and got back home at around 9:30, just as it was starting to heat up. I then had a meeting at 10:00 and Bernard and Rosa grabbed a taxi and took off into Punda for a full day of shopping. After the meeting I swung by and picked up yet another 1TB mini hard drive and then headed back home. I then went shopping and stopped at the glass beach and in-between played with the little puppy, her skin is still bothering her very much and it looks awful. We are trying not to touch her with our own hands and trying to keep our dogs away from her as well, it will take her awhile to heal.

Here is one of the hands down coolest and most sleek looking fish on the reef, it’s called the Scrawled Filefish or Aluterus scriptus. There are approximately 107 species of filefish found in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Indian Ocean, each very unique in it’s own way. The Scrawled Filefish seen here is the largest of all the know filefish species which can reach a length of 110 centimeters while most others are below 60 centimeters in length. The small terminal mouths of filefish have specialized incisor teeth on the upper and lower jaw; in the upper jaw there are four teeth in the inner series and six in the outer series; in the lower jaw, there are 4-6 in an outer series only. The snout is tapered and projecting; eyes are located high on the head. Although scaled, some filefish have such small scales as to appear scaleless. Like the triggerfish, filefish have small gill openings and greatly elongated pelvic bones creating a “dewlap” of skin running between the bone’s sharply keeled termination and the belly. The pelvis is articulated with other bones of the “pelvic girdle” and is capable of moving upwards and downwards in many species to form a large dewlap (this is used to make the fish appear much deeper in the body than is actually the case). Some filefish erect the dorsal spine and pelvis simultaneously to make it more difficult for a predator to remove the fish from a cave. I found this guy out on our reef the other day after shooting the sub and within seconds I was in hot pursuit. I find these fish are either very curious or they don’t want anything at all to do with you and like this one here, it was “catch me if you can humanoid”!!

Good morning all, Mr. tired here again! For those of you who visit the site daily or receive the blog via e-mail you now know I love finding new things! Well yesterday while strolling thru the Dolphin Academy I was immediately met by my colleagues and they said, “did you see the cool new moth”? I said no and they pointed to the wall where this strange looking moth was holding tight in a fairly strong morning wind. This guy was pretty big and either too tired or just didn’t care that a multitude of humans were standing around him taking his photo. With further research we found out it’s called a Tersa Sphinx Moth, Xylophanes tersa tersa, I call it the stealth bomber of the moth kingdom, it’s so sleek and fast looking. Ok, I am sure many of you are thinking, yeah Barry it’s just a bug or don’t loose your day job but we thought he was pretty cool.

Yesterday I did two short dives again with the sub but both in very strong current. Taking the photos in the current is not a problem as we both just drift together, it’s the swim back! Yesterday I had to swim very close to the rocks or the reef and meter by meter I slowly got back! I did see one of the biggest porcupupinefish I have ever seen yesterday, he was well over 3 feet long!! I tried and tried to get a shot but with the current and his ability to swim into deep caves it was a lost cause, will search for him again this week. I also shot my coral face again, it is now half recovered from the coral bleaching, I just can’t believe how long it takes to recover.

It’s time to walk the dogs, thanks again to all of you for helping financially with the new puppy and your contributions to CARF, please if you can keep them coming in, we can and will make a difference!

Oh yeah, I am having Outlook Express problems on and off, if you don’t get your daily go to the website, it’s always posted there www.coralreefphotos.com Have a great day, Barry

Good morning boys and girls, I bet your excited about it being Friday, I know I am. I have a busy weekend on tap, Saturday entertaining Bernard and Rosa plus a meeting at a resort and Sunday Aimee is involved in a big swimming event in the ocean that I will try and photograph, maybe in the water. Yesterday I spent most of the day working on dolphin pictures in Photoshop for the aquarium and by 4:00 my eyes were fried! Aimee did the tourist thing all day yesterday, they went hiking, shopping, exploring and to some museums, it’s safe to say they had a very full day.

Here is a fast moving French Angelfish for you viewing pleasure this morning, truly one cool looking and beautiful fish. These French Angelfish exhibit apparently permanent monogamous breeding pairs. During the spawning cycle, these pairs are highly territorial and really fun to watch. A juvenile French Angelfish serves as a symbiotic cleaner fish feeding on the ectoparasites of other fish species. Also the juveniles are colored very differently than the adults, they are completely black with these glowing yellow bands, talk about one spectacular looking baby fish. We almost always see these fish in pairs and unlike the photo below they tend to move very slowly and if your a real good diver you can get very close to them. This one here was on a mission, he or she was in a big hurry to get somewhere and like a good diver with a camera I followed.

I am running late, I really have to try harder to get these out at night. Puppy is laying in my lap watching me type, getting better by the day. See you soon, Barry

Good morning friends, I came across another great example of what leading scientists are calling a “Damselfish Garden”. The story with the damselfish is that they find a bit of coral (here it’s pillar coral) they like and peck off the living coral tissue. The exposed skeleton becomes overgrown with algae that the damselfish like to eat. The fish defend these little farm territories so aggressively that they will even chase off larger herbivores like parrotfish that would quickly clear away the algae. This was a large Yellowtail Damselfish, normally I only see the Threespot Damselfish making these gardens but apparently they have all joined in one fun of destroying the reef.

Yesterday I did two very quick dives, both less than 15 minutes with the mini-sub. The water is very cold at the moment which as you know by now is great for the healing of all the bleached corals. The way it’s looking underwater now, all the corals that were strong enough to make it thru these hard warm water months should be back to normal in a few more weeks, it’s really starting to look good out there.

Good news, our friend Bernard proposed to his girlfriend Rosa a few days ago while staying on the West-end of the island and of course she said yes, a big congratulations to both of them! Yesterday after work I drove to Outrabanda and picked them both up, they got a shuttle back and just needed a ride home so they are now back with us for another 4-5 more days!

Well, I better get a moving, Aimee is off and will spend the day with our guests and I am off to work, have a great day!! Puppy continues to do great! Barry

Good evening readers, this one is for my bird lovers out there, I didn’t want you to think I forgot about you!! This is a beautiful Caribbean Flamingo taking a bath in the late afternoon sun. Our Curacao Flamingo’s are actually a deeper reddish orange version of the African Greater flamingo. Baby flamingo’s are born as grey chicks and have grey and brown plumage with only traces of pink. The beta-carotene in their diets which comes mostly from algae and shrimps gives their feathers that famous pink or orange color. They eat by dipping their beak upside down into mud and water and then filtering out the mud and water until just the food is left. Flamingos and pigeons feed their young a milk-like substance that is formed in their digestive tract. Flamingos have good hearing but basically no sense of smell and like other birds can’t taste things very well. When flying as a flock, flamingos will fly at up to 37 mph (60 km) and they’ve been witnessed traveling over 300 miles (500 km) a night. Flamingos may group together by the thousands. In Africa, more than a million lesser flamingos (a species of flamingo â€“ not a â€œlesserâ€ animal) will group together in one place! This is the biggest flock of birds anywhere. For centuries Bonaire has been the principal breeding site for the Flamingo population in this area which is currently estimated at around 20,000 birds, that’s pretty incredible!

I had a pretty busy day with the submarine, I did one dive at 11:00 and one with four passengers at 3:00. After work I rushed home and grabbed my bike and met some friends for a quick hour ride. On the way back home it was raining and the streets were wet. I took a nasty crash along side the road trying to get over a wet curb at high speed, I tumbled and tumbled and now am covered in this familiar red stuff, good times!!

Puppy is doing much better, she goes back to the doctor tomorrow and is starting to get very vocal! Have a great evening everyone, Barry

Good morning readers, first off this morning, one of our generous readers sent in $1000 guilders to CARF after seeing photos of our new little puppy, how is that for human kindness?? That’s around $560 dollars! Like I have said before we have the greatest people in the World right here on the list, you folks are wonderful! For you others who said you tried to donate but the form is in Dutch I will contact you for each for help. The puppy is doing better every day but is still in lots of pain because of her terrible skin condition. We are trying as hard as we can to keep her from scratching herself as it’s just making it worse, but you can imagine it must be horrible.

Yesterday Bernard and Rosa took off via shuttle to the other end of the island to a deluxe hotel on the coast for a few days of fun in the sun. They borrowed our car and drove to the city where they picked up a shuttle, later I took my bike and went to pick it up, it worked out really well.

Aimee and I both worked yesterday, I spent most of the day working on and cleaning underwater housings and then at 1:00 did a fun snorkel with Pasku, our cute little two year old dolphin. I also went on a short dive but that was only to test a housing without a camera inside.

Here is another “Barry Creation” for you all this morning. This is a real Sea Urchin, or the exoskeleton of one that I found on the beach and used sea-glass and flower pedals to create the colors you see her, it’s not Photoshop magic it’s natural, cool huh??

Good evening friends, I had a request for something made from Driftwood and dug this out for you tonight. These are Paper Towel holders made entirely from wood we find at Saint Joris bay. I made 10 of these in just a few hours and sell them for around $25 and they work great. We have one hanging in our kitchen as well as toilet paper holders in the bathrooms and driftwood coat and hat racks, it’s great stuff to work with! I made a big toy box a few months ago and sold it for around $600 but can not find the photos anywhere, sure hope I didn’t loose them. We have a lot of wood still here at the house but could use some more big stuff to make more furniture, the problem is Saint Joris is still a complete mess from all the rain.

This morning I took the dogs and my bike to the North Coast as we needed to replace a flooded Geocache called “Inca’s Place”. This cache was reported flooded a few days ago and like a good Geocache care-taker I rushed off to replace it with a new one. When we got there it had just rained leaving a beautiful rainbow and lots of mud! I rode the bike down what used to be a dirt road which is no longer passable by vehicle, there was standing water and mud puddles everywhere! The dogs had an absolute fantastic time running thru all the mud and I struggled thru every minute of it, my bike and I were a complete mess! At one corner I came around too fast and was met with nothing but mud and water and had no option other than to hold on and go for it! The dogs loved it and charged thru while I hit the water with my eyes closed but immediately became stuck in solid mud! The bike slowed down so fast and I was not yet thru it, I stood to try and get out but was stuck and then tried to get out of my clip-less pedals but only one came loose so I fell over on my left side in solid mud and water cutting my hand, knee and leg! I laid in the mud still trying to get my foot out and finally stood up. I was bleeding and caked in mud, it was completely awful! I then had to push the bike because of the caked mud to a nearby bay where I had no choice but to put my bike in the water and rinse off as much mud as I could. I tried not to get the salt water in my bearings and used a stick to scrape the mud. It took a long time to get myself and that bike cleaned up, what a mess and I felt so stupid! Once clean I then proceeded to find the old Geocache and get it replaced with the new one, that turned out to be super easy and after I took off back to the car going a different way home, what a morning! It took me over an hour to clean the dogs, myself and the poor bike not to mention my muddy clothes and trashed backpack!

The rest of the day was much better doing fun stuff with Bernard and Rosa, they are so much fun! Well, off to bed, Bye now, Barry

Jan 23, 11 Comments Off on Lost Puppies, Wild Dogs, Dogs of the Caribbean

Good morning all, meet our new little resident who we consider lucky to be alive! Maybe “Lucky” should be her name? She was found one week ago living under a big woodpile down at the end of our street. Some neighbors had been helping to leave milk, food and water which most likely saved her from starving in the beginning. Days later Aimee got involved and drove our big dog crate down and helped to catch her, she is so afraid and scared of everything and I believe Aimee was bitten the first day during this activity. The day after bringing her home Aimee immediately rushed her to the CARF hospital were she received multiple shots, and all kinds of medications. Her skin is the worst problem from laying in the dirt, she has something called, Sarcoptic Mange which she is being treated for by shots, good food and mainly by keeping her out of the dirt. She also has worms, and fleas and is so shy and scared. Aimee is working with her non-stop by holding her in a towel and letting her know everything is better now and by golly every day she seems to be improving and letting Aimee hold her more and more. This little thing is so tiny and skinny, all her ribs are showing on the side and spends all day crying because her skin hurts her so much, Aimee says it will be yet another week before we start to see any healing. Remember Bart the Air-Ring maker? Well when he was here this week a friend of his left us $100 for such emergencies which we gave to the organization called CARF www.carf.an For any of you wanting to help with this little thing or others like her please let me know, we can arrange anything! I built a new “Puppy Palace” in my computer room for her to live in, there she has a big box to hide in with a blanket, air-co, chewies, food and water and daily love, stay tuned for more!

Yesterday was spent entertaining our new guest Bernard. He is great, we all went on a long morning walk with the dogs down the coast, I worked on a new little trail and he practiced his photography and like a good boy asked lots of questions. Later we all went to the glass beach and then grocery shopping at then back out to the airport to pick up his girlfriend Rosa who arrived at 4:30. The evening was spent catching up on stories at the Ribs Factory and upon our arrival home we all went straight to bed!!

I better get moving, another day of fun with friends, have a great weekend, Barry

Good morning all, it’s weekend time again! I first wanted to send another picture of the big Coral Face so you can see the progress it is making on a daily basis! Check out the other two links below to do your own comparison.

I think this is the first time we have ever spent so much time watching them and photographing the progress but it’s really cool. The water is getting more and more clear by the day and so far staying cool which is great for the corals, remember it’s the warm water that shocks them! We are still getting rain on and off as well but nothing like we have had, so a little is fine we just really don’t need any more major all night downpours!

Yesterday I stayed very busy all day working on photos and doing one dive with a friend from the Dolphin Academy Photoshop who may be able to help on the weekends with the sub, I guess we will find out today at 10:30 how he does.

Good news, our friend Bernard arrived safe and sound last night and right on time! It was again like Christmas in January as he pulled out bag after bag of our favorite Highlander coffee from our home town in Rapid City, South Dakota not to mention all the other stuff like goodies from Ikelite, a new lens, shirts from a friend in Tucson and other fun stuff from Rapid City, thank you all!! I am waiting till Aimee gets up to start the coffee so we can celebrate together, please stop in at Dark Canyon Coffee and just say hi to Lori for us and tell her how much we appreciate her sending this to us and try some for yourself. www.darkcanyon-coffee.com

Well, Bernard is still asleep, I am going to take the dogs for their walk and then see what he would like to do. I am guessing since he purchased a brand new Nikon D-90 that he will be wanting to learn how to drive it and I am up for that. The little puppy is doing well considering the shape she is in, will send a photo soon, bye all, Barry

Jan 21, 11 Comments Off on Blowing Air-Rings, Air Bubbles, Water Rings, Curacao

Good morning all, our first bit of news this morning is that we have a new puppy!! Yep, the neighbors heard a puppy in a big wood pile a few days ago and then with a whole lot of work managed to get it out. It is a small black female, very scared, very skinny, skin problems, worms, fleas etc, etc… She is currently hiding in our house in a box and is ever so slowly making friends with Aimee but not me yet. This poor little thing was holding on to life by a thread but after a visit to the doctor and the help of CARF again she may have a chance, will keep you posted.

Our buddy Bernard arrives tonight and his girlfriend Rosa arrives tomorrow night so we have guests again in the house, we can hardly wait!!

Here is another fun picture of “Bart the Air Ring Blowing Master” at 100 feet admiring his own work. He first laid at 100 feet, blew this perfect air ring, got up off the sand and followed it up towards the surface. As the air ring rises, it gets bigger and bigger, our plan in March is to have someone swim thru one for a cool photo and do some underwater video.

I did a nice dive yesterday and photographed all the corals in front of the Sea Aquarium as a coral bleaching progress photo. I shot them a month ago but couldn’t remember which ones I did yesterday so I just shot them all, most are recovering nicely!

Good morning from Curacao. Meet Johnny, our local Lionfish Hunter, he has done a great job in doing what most say is just a plain waste of time but that isn’t slowing him down a bit. The January/February 2011 issue of Sport Diver is out there now circulating and has a great article on Lionfish and asks the question, “So What’s Plan B” as they are apparently not easily eradicated and here to stay. The article says; the growing number of invasive lionfish in the Atlantic, Caribbean and gulf of Mexico is anything but funny. A single female can produce 30,000 every four days, they have few natural enemies (expect Johnny), and they compete with and prey on native species. But divers are getting creative about ways to fight the problem. Offering cash and other prizes, lionfish rodeos have been started where divers are specially trained and licensed to spear these enormously damaging and poisonous predators that don’t respond to hook and line. The article also includes two recipes, one is for Lionfish Ceviche, and the other is for Lionfish Tacos, try to find the magazine and read more, there are also a few of my photos in there as well. www.sportdiver.com and www.lionfishhunter.com

Yesterday I did two sub dives, short but fun. I did photograph my school of Boga’s again plus the still healing Coral Face that I have sent to you twice already, I may send that out tonight as it’s really looking better by the day. Curacao is slowly getting warmer and warmer, less rain is good! After work I went on a fast hour bike ride but found I was just too tired to really enjoy the ride and ended up just going back home, some days you feel like a nut, some times you don’t!

Good evening friends, I came home from work Friday and told Aimee, “if blowing air rings was an Olympic event, then I just met the World Champion”!!! This is our buddy Bart, I would tell you his last name but most of you Americano’s wouldn’t be able to pronounce it anyways, I know we can’t! Bart who is a dive master/instructor started diving in 1985 and remembers the good o’l days of warm, beautiful reefs full of fish and great visibility but now dives in what he calls “anything fluid”. His company is called www.uwmarine.com and they, “are you sitting down”, specialize in diving in nuclear power plants, sanitary sewers, chemicals, water towers, or anything that holds water, the list is long. At nuclear power plants these crazy folks dive to depths of 130 feet and do regular cleaning. inspections and maintenance! We all have those giant water towers in our towns and cities, these are the folks that go inside those tanks, which are filled with water or whatever and do everything necessary to keep those towers and the contents safe for you and me. He told me story after story of some of the worst things he had to dive in, my mind just has a hard time imagining such things! So back to Mr. Air-Ring maker, my first question was, “how do you do it”? The Master said, “you first find a nice place to lay on your back and of course without hurting the reef”. Second he takes a long drag or breath of air from his regulator and then one by one lets them go like puffs of smoke from an old train, it is so cool! And folks, this is hard to do, he has been doing this for years and has lots of practice, please I do not advise any new divers trying this, keep your regular in your mouth! He told me the air starts out as a single bubble but the water flowing around the outside immediately shoots up thru the center creating a ring. The stability of the ring comes from the water continuing to flow around the outside, underneath and up through the center, it’s something you have to see to believe! So for a man who was born in Curacao and now lives in the States I think he is doing pretty well and is very talented, I will be sending more shots soon, so like always keep checking back.

I had a very busy day of taking pictures of all kinds of different things and ended up missing my bike ride at 5:00, will try and make up for that tomorrow. Off to bed, later, Barry

Jan 18, 11 Comments Off on Water Reflections, Reflections in Water, Designs

Good morning boys and girls, yesterday was spent trying to teach a new person how to take underwater photos as I am in desperate need of some help especially on the weekends. It turns out, like most everything in life it’s not as easy at it looks and will take a long time and a lot of diving before he is able to do this on his own. I ended up teaching for half the day and then at 1:30 did a dive with my friend Bart who is the hands down World Champion of blowing air rings! Curious what that means, tune in tomorrow and you will see!

The days have been fairly sunny again without much rain, this island really needs to dry out as there is running water still almost everywhere you go. I found this cool reflection in the water near the aquarium the other day early in the morning before the wind started and rushed to get my camera. It’s impossible to get these reflections on a windy day. The water usually has to be very calm and the sun must be shinning, then take a stroll around the waters edge and let your imagination run free, it’s really fun.

Sorry so short and boring my mind is just not with it this morning and I need to get to work. Have a great day, back tonight, Barry